Hi. I have posted here more than a few times as boxing is one of my most profound interests but this post is going to be a little more personal than all of the others. Boxing has always been a huge part of my life as my father and grandfather were way into it; i grew up around it,as a baby and a toddler, i watched all the big fights of the seventies before I really even understood what it was I was watching.

When I was 7, I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease; a condition which most doctors believed would stop me from any kind of hard contact sport like boxing. Despite a near fatal hospitalization in 1996, I was able to get my body and mind back on the level and compete to a 4 win, no loss, one draw record in amateur boxing. I never fully believed I would ever turn pro and boxed purely out of love for the game. I was in training for another fight this summer when in January, I was told by my doctors I have cancer.

I just finished the chemotherapy and the radiation treatments last week and let me tell you, it is the closest thing to going through hell that I have ever experienced. We will not know for another month or two whether or not the treatments worked; hopefully they do and I will be cancer-free and will be able to get my body back in shape to fight again (after all the destruction the radiation and chemo has done, this in itself will be a challenge).

Well anyway, this post is addressing those out there who truly love boxing and understand what it means to have it a part of your life. What would you do if all of a sudden it was taken away? That is what I have been dealing with for the last three months. It has not been so much will I live through this (we dont know yet). It has been, will I be able to box again? (we don't know yet).

So please those of you out there who are fighters and who believe in God and for whom, like me, boxing is a gift; something that makes you feel truly alive and free...say a prayer for me. Even if it's only like a second or two long. I know I have a lot of people out there praying and telling me that I will make it. I guess what I really want is for people to pray for and tell me that I will be able to return to boxing at least one more time.


Thanks for listening.

Dave